Versions, advice and way forward.

[millymollymo]

I've plenty on my plate at the moment - and enjoying some "just reading time." However, after the York pubmeet last night it sparked the thinkmeats again.

I'm sat on two solid versions of one story stewing away in a corner somewhere. Both have their strengths, both going in different directions market wise.

Editors, Publishers, Authors we all give advice and generally that advice is sound, where do you go when the advice clashes? Shopping two different versions is clearly bad.

Or does the route become clear when a story finds a real home and the inhouse (assuming there is one) editor tailors to suit?

 

[Ray McCarthy]

You need to follow your own inclination or someone you trust that reads that kind of story.
Advice of a publisher or agent as to which version? The version the publisher will agree to publish! Otherwise the "advice" doesn't mean a lot. Money where mouth is.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

This happened to me with Inish and turned into a bit of a carcrash overall. It started as a crossover book, became young adult on conflicting advice it needed to be one or other, hit the market as a Y
A sf when the market was saturated and was looking crossover and is now back to crossover. In retrospect, it's a stronger story as crossover, although the YA version had its strengths (most of which made it into the final version).

So, um, my advice? Go for which feels stronger to you. You have the innate knowledge of what you were trying to acheive and what felt right.

 

[millymollymo]

Thank you.
It seems crazy doesn't it? We write the stories we want to write. Then wee can sometimes let outside influences and opinions re-direct it into something else entirely.

It all comes down to backbone I suppose, and knowing what it was you set out to do in the first place.

 

[Toby Frost]

I think it depends on the sort of advice that you're getting. If it's very clear statements ("Nobody will publish a YA novel with an old man for a hero" for instance), that's either right or wrong and you can probably find out which it is quite easily. However, vaguer advice about characters, plots etc is harder to answer.

You will run across people who wish that you had written something different, or don't get the idea that you're trying to get across. In that case, you probably have to think about what you're doing and what you want to do, and be prepared to stick to your guns. What is each version of the story about?

One idea might be to rename one version of your story and to treat them like two different works, not two versions of the same thing. That might help in terms of approaching each one differently for a different market.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I don't believe it is a good idea to you let your work be influenced too much by the market. First of all, what the market wants at the moment might not be the best thing for your particular story. And (as Jo found out) the market changes, and frequently so fast that it is impossible for us to keep up. So, while it is not wise to ignore the market altogether, you shouldn't be a slave to it.

Write the best book that you can. While you are sending it out write something else. Maybe the first book won't find a home, maybe the second one won't either. But if the timing is right for another book and it is published and does well, you'll have your earlier books more or less ready (obviously your skills will have improved with each book and you will want to give the older ones a quick revision to bring them up to the same quality) when the market changes, or when your new book is so successful that publishers are eager for another book with your name on the cover.

 

[millymollymo]

I tend to believe the same, Teresa - writing for the market is much like chasing a tornado I would think. Toby, I did separate the two with titles but will go back to them in a few months. I have a feeling I know which I will lean toward, which holds on to the concept of the story I set out to write in the first place.
Money where the mouth is, as Ray so elegantly put it is indeed the way I need to be thinking.